Lady Exorcist
by Beautiful Phantom
Summary: Within the darkest corners of the earth, there lurks unholy monsters waiting to devour humanity. When they come out from the dark, it is the responsibility of all exorcists to stop the monsters no matter the costs. A young Baroness, Kagome Delilah Lucius-Higurashi, is one of these such exorcists, and among those to help her is her own faithful butler, Shippou Reynard.
1. The Exorcist, Greeting

**Lady Exorcist**

_"You are the brightest star in the darkest sky."_

Within the darkest corners of the earth, there lurks unholy monsters waiting to devour humanity. When they come out from the dark, it is the responsibility of all exorcists to stop the monsters no matter the costs. A young Baroness, Kagome Delilah Lusicus-Higurashi, is one of these such exorcists, and her little corner of the world is the great City of London of England. The fine city is heavily infected with ugliness and the good people remain ignorant. It is her job to keep the festering ugliness at bay and protect the innocents, and among those to help her is her own faithful butler, Shippou Reynard of whom has his own share of secrets hidden beneath a facade of a smiling servant.

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**Chapter One**: The Exorcist, Greeting

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Perfection.

Elegance.

Silence.

Her fingers remained afloat above the familiar ivory keys of the grand piano.

"Milady! You shouldn't idle!" The smooth voice erupted with a stain of irritation, and she felt the warmth of his presence behind her back. "Why did you hesitate?" Long orange strands of hair fell on her face.

It seemed that he forgot to tighten his hair tie again.

She turned to give the man a glare, tucking her hands in between her legs, "Do you honestly expect me to memorize the entire sheet, within an _hour_? Particularly _Funerailles*_? I am not familiar with the piece nor had I ever played it." She absently tucked in a strand of her black hair behind an ear.

His green eyes slid shut, presumably out of exasperation, and straightened his spine, returning to his tall height, "To be able to play without the aid of mere papers is being a true musician. You must know, you must _feel_ the music. You must show your audience that you can play without silly sheets. Play by ears as they say."

The girl kept in a huff (though it showed the puffs in her cheeks) but managed to reply without showing her annoyance to the man's logic, "Of which I can be able to do, if I _practice_. I never practiced _Funerailles* _before, nor had I with any of Liszt's pieces! You are being ridiculous, Shippou."

"You are a piano prodigy-so yes, I am being ridiculous for having high expectations of you, Lady Kagome." Shippou, already realizing that he needed another hair tie, pulled back his reddish-orange hair into a low ponytail, "You showed a lot of promises for your age-"

Kagome cut him off, her eyes lighted, "Just give me the bloody sheet, Shippou." She sharply turned to her piano, not gifting him her glare, "Honestly now, please spare me your prodigy lectures, and do you not have some chores to do?"

Swallowing a sigh Shippou nodded, "Very well, milady, but as I am responsible for your piano lessons, I expect you to memorize the sheet completely by tomorrow. We'll end the lesson here and you have an hour to practice." He tucked the sheets in the music desk*, adjusting them for easier reading. "Don't forget-we will be having a guest after your practices, so please make good of the one hour you have." The young girl said nothing in return, her dark eyes still glued on the dried ink on the papers.

Shippou paused for a moment, watching his little lady's fingers bounced over the selected keys but never touching. It was her way of not hearing her own mistakes too early on. He tugged at his black sleeves, relieved to hear the music start playing, and turned away from the room. The end of his lips lifted into a small smile.

His name was Ship Reynard, the young Baroness' faithful butler, though he went by Shippou, as he preferred to be called.

Despite looking like a young man in his early 20s, Shippou could easily tower over men with an impressive stature of an inch or two over six. Shippou embodied almost perfect features that would have seduced many ladies (and perhaps few men) and making many envy him; long reddish orange hair (the color looked too orange, too golden or too red to even be called a ginger-the colors too awkward to be called anything but vivid) tied into a ponytail, forest green eyes with a spark of mischievousness, and a smile that could make one swoon. He wore his black suit proudly and beautifully as it was made perfect for his thin build.

Despite being a butler, he held none of the serious strictness in his eyes and looked much more willing to smile and shrug off one's small mistakes.

He was...light, compared to his lady's darkness.

Blares of his footsteps in the corridor did not drown out the little Baroness' fading music. This, Shippou was thankful, for his ears ached to keep listening.

The silver pocket watch showed the time in his hands, and he hurried.

He dashed into the vast entrance hall*, "It is almost time for Mr. Shirley to make an appearance!" The butler reminded himself out loud, as he was trying to cut down the long to-do list from his mind by completing them quickly.

Dusting, finished.

Floor polishing and windows shining, done!

Flower arrangement, completed!

He heard a door opening and closing, "Miss Kiku! Have you made ready the drawing* room? The washrooms as well?" He called out to the stoic-looking maid from above the floor. He never even looked up from cleaning a tiny space underneath a table.

The woman bowed despite the butler not looking, "Yes, sir."

"Good. Now, please go and make sure Ash hasn't damage a thing in the garden." Shippou dismissed the maid, now satisfied with the spotless cleaning.

"Yes, sir." He heard another door clicked close. Kiku was gone.

The butler tackled the next part of the list-clean the stairs, polish the railing, and vacuum and stream* clean the carpet to the perfection.

The continuous music from his lady's piano pleased him. He worked feverishly.

The mental to-do list was considerably cut down by a large amount. Shippou checked his pocket watch. "Tch, fifteen minutes went by. Well then, best to make good uses of remaining thirty five minutes!" He clicked it closed, nodding to a decision made, "I must prepare the meal."

The butler dashed to the kitchen. He stopped momentarily to look outside through a window facing a white deck. "Mr. Theodore! Are you doing well?"

On a mat the old man jolted, as if he woke up from his sitting position, "I am well!" His thick glasses shined from the happy sunlight (although the bald spot on his head shined too from the light, Shippou opted not to think about that). The old man brushed through his long goatee with long bony fingers, "I should check on Master Alden now. Thank you for the reminder, youngster!"

Shippou nearly winced from seeing Mr. Theodore struggling to get up from the mat on the ground, "How long had you been mediating? Master Alden hadn't even had his nap that long for you to be having aches." He moved half of his body outside the window, ready to jump out and help the old man.

Mr. Theodore laughed, "Oh, oh, no it is fine, good youngster. I just neglected to take my medicines is all." He turned toward where the butler was and stretched his aging limbs, before pausing, his face worn with worries, "You won't tell either Master or Little Lady this, would you? I can imagine such fits they will throw!"

The butler narrowed his eyes, "I will hold this as blackmail if you neglect your medicine again, Mr. Theodore! Take them immediately." He flattened his lips into a thin line, showing obvious disapproval.

The old man looked wilted, "Yes sir." He sighed.

"Take your medicine, and please wake Master. We are having a guest, coming from within..." Shippou checked his watch, "-thirty minutes. Please make sure Master is presentable -you yourself as well!"

Mr. Theodore tipped his head, "Yes sir!"

Shippou nodded back, "Good, I need to prepare everything, so if you will excuse me..." He removed himself from the window sill.

"Thank you." The old man smiled, as he interrupted the butler's department.

Shippou raised a brow, "Whatever for?" He had a small smile playing on his lips.

Mr. Theodore laughed, "For keeping my silly mistake a secret."

The butler chuckled good naturedly, "I will be holding this as blackmail just so you know! Shoo now." Shippou waved a hand, and he turned away, dashing to the kitchen.

Within minutes, pots were hissing from underneath the lids, pans were being pressed with selected food, the stove was already hot, and utensils were being used to test foods.

_Clung, clung!_

Shippou dripped stubborn foodstuffs off the gigantic spoon against a metal rim, "Need a bit more salt and chives. Hmm...Ah, sweets! I forgot the sweets!" He grimaced when he realized the noises he produced with the kitchen drowned out his little lady's music. "Quicker this is done, sooner I can hear." Shippou said to himself.

The cooking was finished. The oven was kept on low to keep the food warm. The cart was pulled out and waiting to be filled to brim with silver trays, plates, and domed covers.

Shippou made a quick work of washing and drying the used, empty pots and skillets, before placing them within the cabinets and upon the racks within the scullery.

True, he could have left Kiku to do them as per her job, but he doesn't trust her with sharp objects.

The butler checked his watch again, "Twenty minutes." He blew a sigh, "Let's see what damages Ash caused this time." Hearing the piano music again gave him a smile.

Going through a few rooms (instead of corridors) to get to the backyard of the home, he saw the maid glaring down at a snarling white-haired fellow, the disemboweled garden of the young baroness' favorite flowers, and the ruffled appearances of the tall hedges that formed a boundary between the yard and the outside world. Why, even one of trees was broken right in half! The butler felt a brow twitch, irate.

He forced himself to take in calming breaths. _No need to do anything you may regret, Shippou!_ The butler thought, feeling manicured nails digging through his palms through his gloves.

"_Ash_, you bloody little _twat_! What excuses do you _have_ this _time_?!" His voice seemed to send the dirtied fellow into trembles. He was no longer snarling at the maid. With said maid shaking her head.

"Rabbits, sir, rabbits!" Ash sputtered, pointing a dirt-covered finger to a wide-eyed rodent in a distance, as it was innocently nibbling a cabbage leaf.

The butler palmed his face, trying to reign in his already-hot temper. He removed the hand from his face and shifted his position to look more intimidating. After intaking a deep breath and exhaling, he didn't take long to snap on Ash, "You could have solved the rabbit problem with the garlic and chili _powder_! Rabbits have a high keen sense of smell!"

Ash twisted his face into disgust, his only visible amber-hued eye glaring with disagreement, "They make _me_ _sneeze_!"

"Regardless you should have known better! If it was not for the fact that we are in a time limit, I would have punish you and strip you of your dinner and leave you out in the cold overnight!" Ash looked slightly relieved by getting away without being punished-perhaps the visitation of the stranger was a good thing? Shippou glared, seeing the relief on the man's face and he remedied this immediately, "Unfortunately this _will_ come later. Now go bathe yourself and make yourself look decent!"

Ash looked devastated, "Whatttt?! Oh, come on!" He clamped down his mouth when he received yet another glare.

Kiku quietly added, "Little missus is fond of rabbits. She won't be happy to hear of this, Ash."

The fellow bellowed wordlessly after realizing he too, will have Kagome's temper at his end, "This is just-" Shippou didn't bother glaring this time, allowing Ash whining about the unfairness of it all. He shifted the blame on Kiku, "Thanks a lot, Kiku! You're a traitor to me!" Ash bemoaned. Seeing Ash trying to guilt Kiku in just to try and make himself feel better, a glare from the butler sent him into a scurry.

Shippou rubbed his face, "Go make yourself respectable, Miss Kiku, and please inform me if the guest arrived."

Kiku bowed, nonplussed from Ash's lousy attempt to guilt her, "Yes sir." She hurried away.

The sorry-looking appearance of the yard made him groan. The sight of a rabbit hopping in the ruined grass had him glaring, "Horrible things they are. Maybe I should roast you for dinner." This made him pause, "...Milady won't know." Shippou grinned, satisfied with the idea.

He found it much less time consuming compared to his earlier chores fixing the yard to its' former glory, if not even more spectacular than ever before. The holey, clawed ground was all patched up with new grasses, the hedges were trimmed, the flowers were replaced and were made bright and beautiful...

What an easy chore!

Being able to listen to his lady's (much improved) music was a bonus too!

The clicking was a nice sound, Shippou decided, when he saw he had less than seven minutes left on his trusty watch.

"Sir!" Kiku rushed, her long skirt flapping against speed, yet she somehow maintained that impassive expression, "Mr. Shirley has arrived. The carriage is at the gate."

There goes the extra time to listen to his lady's music.

"That soon?" Shippou pulled his cuffs forward, disappointed, "He has a nice sense of timing, does he not?" The maid didn't agree or disagree to his comment, her face maintaining neutrality and she said nothing. "Do let me fetch the lady and then I shall greet the guest. Please attend to Master Alden and Mr. Theodore in my place."

Kiku bowed, "Yes sir, right away." Once again she disappeared.

Shippou near jogged his way to the room of where the music was from, and felt a small guilt for interrupting her playing, "Milady, Mr. Shirley is here." He announced, stilling the music.

"Ah, very well." She pulled down the fallboard* with a low _clang_. Kagome neatly removed herself from the bench and straightened her skirt, "Do I look decent, Shippou?" She, almost as a joke, curtsied before her butler.

Shippou knew better-it was to show any possible flaw in her attire, "Perhaps I need to fix your hair a bit, miss."

"You always fix my hair. Does it fizz that easily?" Kagome frowned, pressing down her hair with her hands.

Shippou interrupted her actions, "No, no, don't do that. You will only make it worse." As if by magic he pulled out an elegant-looking hairbrush and removed her ribbon from her head. The butler pulled the brush through the hair, putting stubborn locks into their places. Several strokes later he made her hair perfect.

"There. Beautiful." Shippou smiled brilliantly, pulling the white ribbon into a graceful bow on her head, "Ah, I need to greet Mr. Shirley! Please remain in the drawing* room with your grandfather." _He should be there, I hope._ "Now pardon me." The butler dashed away, leaving the girl alone.

He arrived just before the knocking began. Not wanting to seem excited, Shippou took time to compose himself. He fixed his hair into a topknot (it was not professional for all butlers to even have long hair, but he made do), tucked in his fringe behind his jeweled ears, pulled out thick strands of hair to disguise the earrings, and straightened his jacket and his black tie. The knocking ended.

The butler coughed lightly to clear his throat and pulled on his white gloves, buying a bit more time to give impression that he was busy performing his duties. Shippou can sense the guest's fidgeting outside and smiled.

He pulled the door open, seeing Mr. Shirley for the first time, "Hello! Mr. Shirley?"

The man was surprisingly younger than expected despite his humpbacked appearance and the dark bags underneath his eyes. Shippou absently noted if Mr. Shirley had not the humpback, he'd reach just few inches shorter of his height.

His nervous eyes refused to meet Shippou's, but he nodded just the same. He placed his pale brown top hat over his heart in a weak greeting, his fingers feeling the fabric, "Huh um yes, I am Elmer Shirley. I have a meeting with...Mr. Luscius-Hig-huh-ash-a?" The fellow stumbled over the foreign pronunciation, looking frightful and apologetic for his obvious mistake.

"I beg your pardon, sir, but it is _Hi-gu-ra-shi_." Shippou had to reign in an angry smile-couldn't the visitors spare some time to practice pronouncing the name correctly beforehand?! "And you are also meeting the Young Lady as well?"

Flustered from being corrected, Mr. Shirley tipped his head, "Y-yes, her as well."

_It would be considered polite if you included both in the beginning._ The butler thought, not very impressed with the scrawny gentleman, "Well then, come inside! And do let me take your hat and jacket." The guest entered within the home, and Shippou shut the door and locked it.

Mr. Shirley, sweating from anxiety, allowed his jacket to be removed and let it hang on a nearby rack along with his hat without much of a word.

The butler turned halfway, bowed, and gestured to a door, "Please follow me and I will lead the way."

The guest, not having a chance to _look_ at his surrounding, was awestruck. "Beautiful..." Mr. Shirley mumbled, not used to being in such a fine environment. Unaware, there was already a noticeable distance between him and Shippou. The scrawny fellow examined the nearby furniture. "Ah, sir...is this what most nobles have?" The railings of the grand stair even have the smallest yet precise details upon them!

The butler watched Mr. Shirley as he realized he has a hand out to feel the texture of a well-designed table. Realizing he was being watched, the feeble guest pulled the hand back as if burnt. Mr. Shirley flushed, keeping his hands to himself.

Shippou shook his head, little impatient to see his master and his little mistress, "This is rather modest to most, but yes, this is common among nobles. Have you not been in a noble's home before?"

"Only one," the gentleman admitted, "'tis was bigger too, but it was not as impressive as this!"

Shippou bit back a laugh, feeling his ego being stroked for all of the hard works he did, "Come along now-you shouldn't idle when you have a meeting to get to."

Mr. Shirley blanched, "Oh goodness, I forgot! Please forgive me!" He hurried to the butler's side and saw a well lit hallway through a door, "Through there?"

The butler nodded, "Yes."

The scrawny man gulped and was then led by the redhead, trembling. It was a brief walk to the drawing room's door.

Just right before the butler could even knock at the door to make their presences known...

"Meow!"

Shippou heard the most feminine scream he had ever heard coming from a man.

The door slammed open, luckily not hitting either men in the hallway, "The bloody hell was that?!" A man well into his years barked out, surprised, with his lady clinging unto his slacks. There was uncertainty in the man's dark eyes, while there was only curiosity in the girl's.

"It seemed that our guest was spooked by milady's cat, Master Alden." Shippou answered regally though there was amusement filtering through his voice.

"Meahhhh." The aforementioned huffy cat invited itself into the drawing room, of where it was promptly picked up by the dark-garbed girl.

"That is not a cat!" Mr. Shirley squeaked. The size of that cat was enormous!

Kagome narrowed her eyes at the man, hugging the cat tighter despite the fact that its' back paws were touching the floor, "She _is_ a cat! Kirara is just fluffy, that's all."

"Meow," the white cat said plainly, its' front legs were jutting out from the awkward-looking hug. It really was big, twice the size of regular housecats if not a bit more. Kagome herself was under five feet, and seeing the cat almost as long (even if it was stretched out) as the girl was mildly disturbing.

After a series of squeaking, Mr. Shirley blurted out, "What sort of a cat is this?" He eyed the poker-faced cat, afraid.

"It is a Ragdoll, sir." The maid answered, as she was left unnoticed by the guest.

"Never heard of that breed before." Mr. Shirley confessed.

Alden shook his head, claiming a chair, "Frankly, I would be surprised if you did!" He laughed, gesturing to a chair for Mr. Shirley to take, "Now, please seat yourself. Kiku, Theodore, thank you for attending to us. Shippou will take over from here." He waved to the two servants within the room, dismissing them.

The old servant set down a silver pitcher on a tray upon the table and bowed with the black-haired maid. Mutedly, they both retreated from the room.

The old Master saw Mr. Shirley's expression toward the cat, and frowned, "You don't hold any contempt toward cats, do you? Or are you allergic?" The little lady brought the cat's furs closer to her face, almost glaring at the skinny male as if she was daring him to say yes.

Mr. Shirley collapsed in the chair he was offered, with an uncertained nod, "...I had bad experiences with cats." He squeaked when he saw the glare he was receiving from the little girl, and hastily explained further his reasoning, "I have nothing against them! It is one of the reasons why I am here."

Kagome blinked.

"Ah, I see. Well, we did not have such a wonderful meeting, did we not?" Alden hummed. Mr. Shirley flustered at the embarrassment he caused to himself and nodded in the agreement. The older gentleman continued, "So, let's try again." He rose from his seat and held out a hand, "Lets introduce ourselves properly this time, shall we?"

The man gave a weak smile and accepted the Master's noticeably larger and aged hand, "I am Elmer Shirley, and I do not mind at all if you choose to call me Elmer. Mr. Shirley can be a bit mouthful at times."

The older man had quite a firm shake. Alden laughed heartily, "You know who I am, 'that good ol' Baron, Alden Lucius'!" He clapped another hand on Elmer's and grinned, "I don't blame folks for dropping Higurashi anyhow-it _is_ also mouthful." The younger man smiled again, though it was forced.

The baron let go of Elmer's hand, and gestured to the girl who was still standing and holding her gigantic cat, "This is my lovely granddaughter here, Kagome Delilah Luscius-Higurashi."

Kagome placed the protesting cat on the floor and curtsied politely, "I am happy to make your acquaintance." Kirara slapped the end of her skirt, disgruntled.

Elmer tipped his head in return, "Likewise, young miss."

"Meeiiiiihhhh!" The cat wailed, padding the floor with a paw toward the baron.

Alden chuckled, "And of course I should introduce our resident white nightmare, Kirara." He received his granddaughter's glare, but he blissfully ignored her. He returned to his seat and Elmer did the same.

"...meowwwww..." Kirara sulked, flipping its pale orange tail.

Shippou coughed to cover his snickering, "Does anyone want a cup of tea? The hour of lunch is soon." He reminded.

Alden chuckled, shaking his head, "I had my fill of tea at this moment. Mr. Shirley?"

"Just call me Elmer please," Elmer coughed, "and yes, I'd like some tea."

Shippou raised the silver pitcher with a cup in another hand, his little lady already accepting an offered teacup, "Would Lady Grey be alright?"

"Yes, it's fine." Elmer exhaled, nervous again.

Alden waited for the guest to drink his tea, sensing that he needed it, "So, why are you here? It is rare for us to have to arranged an emergency meeting with a client, much less knowing the complete details." The old baron placed his twined hands underneath his bushy chin, his narrowed eyes poring deep into Elmer's own.

The offered cup chattered against its' held saucer.

"You might want to put down the cup and the saucer." Shippou advised, "You are shaking like a leaf!"

Elmer took his advice, "Oh, right, sorry..."

Wiping away gathered sweat with a napkin on his forehead, Elmer swallowed thickly and nodded, "Well, yes, I think I am killing my fiancée." He waited with bated breath.

Alden merely raised a brow, "How are you so sure?" Kagome remained silent, though she was amusing her suddenly energetic cat on the seat near the lone large window.

The humpbacked fellow blinked, expecting something more of a reaction but continued, "I kept doing things that I didn't intend to do. I saw myself slipping pellets of rat poison into Charlotte's drinks-I threw that away of course, and one time I had a knife in my hand and I-I _wanted_ to stab her!" Elmer wept, "I made myself stab a tree-it took so much self-control and I...My dear Charlotte was in bed sick-I think I poisoned her somehow. Hadn't made myself sleep since. I don't want to kill her even in my sleep! I am afraid of finding her dead at my hands by tomorrow morning!"

"So, why come to us? It could be a sign of your mind decaying from stress-I hear you are an engineer, so I can imagine how demanding that would be." Alden suggested, his face surprisingly void of his usual jolly expressions.

Elmer blurted, "I know it was not me! I saw a woman in the mirror! She was standing on my shoulders!" He choked on gathering mucus and had to cough.

Alden nodded, pulling out a cream-yellow folder, eyes flickering to the man's back, "I see. That explained your, ah, back. But, who is this woman?"

At this, Elmer paled.

"Tell the truth now." Kagome warned, gazing to outside through a window-she was still not looking at Elmer. The lady was petting her satisfied cat on the bench.

The guest nodded, "Ah-ahem, well the woman was my deceased fiancée, Sabella Denzel-we were childhood friends and we grew up together."

Alden wrote into something within the folder, "When and how did she die?"

Elmer shuttered, "Three years ago..." he inhaled and placed a hand over his heart, pained from old memories, "An accident-a horrible accident-. She went out one day and got stampeded over by a runaway horse wagon." He tried to keep in his tears, "The sight was the most gruesome thing I had ever seen."

The baron hummed, "So she was on your back and was threatening the life of your current fiancée?"

"I...Yes, that's correct."

Alden placed down the pen and sighed, "Well then, Kagome, sweetie, what do you think?"

"Oh Mr. Shirley's case is terribly easy for me to take care of, Grandfather. Couldn't you do it? It shouldn't tire you out all that much." Kagome frowned, tugging on Kirara's ears to punish the cat's earlier attempts of chewing on her boots.

"Wait, what?!"

The old baron chuckled, ignoring Elmer's verbal surprise, "Dear love, you know I long since retired from this sort of business-my old age isn't doing me justice at all. And besides, is it not your responsibility now?"

Kagome blew out air, "Doesn't mean I won't form my own opinions." She released the cat, and finally approached Elmer at lasts, "I don't suppose you can't wait until after lunch?"

Elmer didn't hear the old man's laughter, too shocked to pay attention.

"Mr. Shirley?" Kagome frowned, "I understand that it is a bit strange to have an exorcist rather young as I..."

"Are you _the_ Lady Exorcist?" He paled, pushing back against the chair so far that he fell off of his chair. Elmer moved backward to get away from the girl, not acknowledging the pain that shoot up from his hips from the fall.

Shippou shook his head, his voice chiming with vast disapproval, "Oh come now, don't tell us you believed in such rumors!"

"Rumors?" Elmer gulped, "That's all it was, right?"

He heard the butler's voice being firm, "Of course they were rumors. She's only a child after all!"

Elmer dimly recognized he had offended the butler and possibly the baron who stayed silent throughout the conversation, and immediately bowed his head, "My sincerest apologizes!" He helped himself back into his seat, "After all that had happened to me, I was foolish enough to believe in gossips." The humpbacked male shut his eyes, "Forgive me."

Kagome huffed, "I never was offended, Mr. Shirley, it was rather a common event so I am used to it." The cat dragged on a long mew from its' lax position on the window seat and she remembered, "Say, what did the cats did to you?"

Elmer rubbed his head, still flustered for more embarrassment he caused, but answered just the same, "They attacked me. Scratched me, bite me, spit at me, you named it they did it. I daresay they reacted because of Sabella." He rolled up his sleeves to show multiple pink lines of scratches and circles of bites. Few were old, most were new.

"Yet you are positive it was her?" Kagome examined his wounds and shook her head in dismay.

Elmer nodded, frowning, "Sabella loved cats. Always had more than one cat in her home and cared for plenty that lived outside." He sighed, pulling down his sleeves.

"Let's have luncheon now. It will be much easier if both parties have full stomachs," Shippou interrupted, "unless Mr. Shirley needed to leave immediately?"

"If my Charlotte gets to live, I will stay as long as it takes." Elmer vowed, "She had my heart and she held it tight." He shut his eyes in pain, "I love her and I do not want to harm her, no matter the form!"

Alden tipped his head in an approval, "You have a good heart you got there. Please do keep it." Elmer gave him a questioning look, but the old man said nothing. The Baron had a sly smile that somehow seemed sad at the same time.

The butler led them to the dining room, where Elmer again was awed. It was not as vast as richer nobles would have, but the decors...He had to remind himself to close his mouth and take a seat near the aged Baron. The table was already set up, with fine china plates and silver utensils lined up according to proper manner of wealthy eating.

Alden took his position at the end of the table, with his granddaughter taking a seat next to him. Shippou was ready to fetch the meal, though certainly not before scorning a damp-haired fellow that chose this time to make an appearance, "Ash, get your back _off_ the wall! Position yourself proper, like a good servant man should!" He snapped, keeping his voice low so not to be overheard by the guest.

The male, Ash, grumbled but complied by removing himself from the papered wall. The maid positioned herself next to him with the old man butler Mr. Theodore at her side.

Briefly Shippou looked at all of servants in the household. They looked different from most servants he had seen scurrying about in most noble's homes. _Foreign_ would be a word many would have described those three workers.

The maid, Kiku, had serious dark brown eyes, maintained a proper posture, and her lengthy black hair was tied in a low ponytail with a white ribbon. On her head adorned a frilly cap and her white flock seemed to be adjusted, as there were tiny lines of black crisscrossed ropes going down underneath her armpits and on her shoulder straps. Otherwise she seemed to be, fashion-wise, an usual maid if not attractive.

Mr. Theodore wore a classic black suit, pressed and ideal fit for his build. His thick glasses, though was his greatest feature. One wouldn't be able to (or easily) see his eyes through the glasses. His balding hair was another feature of his, with what little left of his white-grey hair was pulled in a short ponytail. Theodore held an attitude that was obviously well trained for his age and was impressive enough for any servant to ask for any advice. Otherwise he looked to be your typical old man butler.

Lastly there was Ash, who was the most unusual of them all with a lazy sense of fashion. He had a choppy white hair-the color unheard of in England- to his collarbone with a red bandana over his head. He had a messy fringe over his right eye, as if he was hiding some kind of shame underneath. The visible eye though was bright, the hue was of amber coloring. The fashion was decidedly lazy, as it consisted a tan worker's shirt and worn-out pant with a pair of suspenders. Ash had a scowl on his face which was erased away when the vivid-haired butler glared back.

Shippou nodded in grudging approval and left, hearing his superiors and the guest attempting to make a chat. And it was such an awkward attempt too.

The foods were thankfully not too hot or too cold, and the cart was quickly filled to the brim. He turned the oven off and went back to the dining room.

He could see Kagome resisting that age-old temptation to roll her eyes when he dramatically entered the dining room with the meal cart, "I have returned with your lunch!" Shippou announced himself, with a smile. Mr. Theodore went to provide assistance.

"I hope you do not mind that our luncheons are not, traditional." Alden chuckled, "While many would have it small, this tiny family of mine consume a bit more to keep up energy for our...careers, as you can say."

Elmer sympathized with him, but said nothing else.

"Here you are, Mr. Shirley." Elmer blinked at Shippou and saw at his plate full of glorious foods.

He salivated, "This looked delicious!" Elmer regained composure, "This is a bit much, don't you think?"

Shippou merely smiled in response.

Alden chuckled, clapping his hands, "Make your blessings and eat!"

Elmer nodded and after reciting a prayer, went to devour his given meal.

Halfway through her boiled vegetables, Kagome paused and glared at something over Elmer's head, even placing down her fork and knife. Alden saw her and followed the direction of where she was looking at and frowned. At the invisible gesture from his lady Shippou stepped closer to the guest, waiting.

The scrawny fellow was too into his food to notice their odd looks. It was obvious that he hadn't had a decent meal in days, maybe weeks, given his hollowed cheeks.

Then something squeezed his throat, trapping bites of food within, and he found himself choking, deprived of oxygen. Shippou grabbed his shoulders and kicked the chair out of the way, pressing his hands together underneath Elmer's ribcage from behind.

Timing it right, the butler slammed his hands and heard the food erupting from Elmer's throat. His lady wrinkled her nose at the ruined tablecloth, but removed herself from her seat and straightened her dress and announced, "The spirit's wrath is escalating." Shippou hoisted the fazed, pale man on his shoulder and waited for further words of his lady. Alden followed, moving himself to stand next to his chair.

Kagome tipped her head high, her lips in a firm line, "Let it be known that I have five Witnesses to verify the existence of the intelligent spirit named Sabella Denzel, a victim of a fatal accident and a deceased fiancée of Mr. Elmer Shirley!"

"I am your Witness." Alden and four servants chorused altogether, none showed any emotion on their faces.

"Mr. Elmer Shirley is in danger, his life was threatened by the spirit, Sabella Denzel, as well as his current fiancée, Miss Charlotte, her family name is not yet known," Kagome continued. She took in a deep breath before exhaling, relaxing her serious expression slightly, "Let us go to the basement!" Her voice had a tone of finality.

Elmer groaned, and Shippou felt his skin growing cold. He hurried, intending to arrive to the place first, feeling no weight on his shoulders. The butler stopped before a heavy-looking door and pulled it open (and left it open for the others following behind). The stairs was grey black and made of stones and the way down to the chosen room was long and deep.

Behind him the torches on narrow walls came to life, hissing and sparkling blue before turning red and friendly.

The dark room was lighted when Shippou arrived with Elmer, revealing a giant painted perfect circle on the floor. The circle itself was empty, until the butler laid the white-faced male down in the center and moved himself towards the outside of the circle.

Kagome arrived to the basement with her grandfather and the servants following. Alden went to position himself near the circle while the maid and two men stood near a wall-to-wall, ceiling-to-ceiling bookcase. "Get the sages." The girl promptly ordered while approaching the ailing engineer on the ground.

"Yes, milady." Shippou bowed and went to fetch them from a nearby cabinet, "Ah, we are running low." He said absently.

"We can get more. Do we have enough?" Kagome kneeled before Elmer, and examined his face. Elmer looked terribly out of it.

Shippou affirmed, "Yes." He brought the items to the girl.

She frowned, unbuttoning his shirt to confirm a crossing thought, "Choking shouldn't have him in this state. It seemed that Sabella attempted to attack his heart too." His chest was red, and there were obvious perfect shapes of hand imprints all over his skin.

Kagome sighed, gracefully bouncing on the soles of her boots to stand up, "Let it be known that Mr. Shirley was choked by the spirit and the spirit also attempted attacking his heart and lungs to kill him." She stood back to let all to see the red mark on Elmer's chest, "I shall attempt to cleanse the negativity from the spirit and hope for the spirit's willingness to move on to the Light from the earth." The little lady took the rolled dried plants from her butler's hands and he left the circle without a word.

The exorcist then strategically positioned five of the sages on the white paint and burned them all with a lit match. The white smoke were now drifting away from the burning plants. Kagome, again, stood before the sweating body, with only one sage left in her hold, "Begone, begone, the wrathful ghost!" The girl dragged another match stick on fire using the ground as friction to create fire and lit the last sage, "Open thy eyes and see the cruelty you committed to thyself and thy loved ones!" The last dried plant were adrift above Elmer's form, the smoke were violently shaped, as if something was trying to slap them away.

The white smoke from all six dried sages transformed into a tunnel, slowly turning above the circle. Ash jolted backward when the mold of a face was slammed into the 'wall' of the mini tornado and the face mutely screamed, others though didn't react the same as he did.

"Keh, can't ever get used to this kind of crap." He grumbled, crossing his arms and glaring at the ghost.

Kiku shushed him, which he snorted at. He received a dark look in return.

The smoke turned red and the scream was no longer mute, making all wince as Ash and Kiku covered their ears. Elmer was gagging, the pink on his chest was fading away, as if the pressure was easing away from his person.

"I did say it was terribly easy." Kagome commented, turning her head to her chuckling grandfather, "I didn't even feel a drop of tiredness." Her words were snarky though she revealed nothing in her expression.

Alden continued laughing, "I am not young like you are, little love, so let's agree to disagree." His chuckle eased away into a sigh, his old eyes focusing on something beyond his granddaughter, "I do wonder what _her_ reasoning was."

The scarlet hue faded into pink before returning to white at last, the slow cycle of smoke tunnel expunged away all colors. Inside there seemed to be a pale shape of a woman, thin and small, and ashamed, with her head bowed. There was a sound of crying, though of relief or grief, it was hard to say.

Her brave shoulders sagged, her face of pity, "Let's ask," She said, but her dark eyes were downward, "but first, Mr. Shirley, you need to wake." Kagome got down on a knee to pat the groaning engineer awake, "I believe you and Miss Sabella owed each other few words."

Elmer frowned, settling an arm across his eyes, "This is a dream. A fever dream." He shook his head in denial, ignoring the familiar crying voice of long ago past.

"Believe what you like, Mr. Shirley, but please, face her. It is the only way to make peace." Kagome declared, still on a knee, but the curtain of her black hair disguised her expression to all, "If not for yourself, then for your Charlotte. Did you not say you love her?"

"..." Elmer swallowed thickly and after a stretching pause he nodded, "I do. I do very much. My Charlotte." He removed the arm just as the ghost whimpered at his declaration. Weak he can only managed to sit up and nothing further, "Sabella, why?" His sad eyes glanced up to the floating specter, "Why did you want Charlotte's death so badly?" Elmer could not master up courage to be angry.

Kagome stood up and stepped away, her face a dawning realization, "She had no voice, so I shall be your medium between you and Miss Sabella." She glanced at her grandfather, who merely tipped his head, before taking in a deep breath, "Miss Sabella, I shall be your voice, and _only_ my voice. Do you promise to use _only_ my voice?" The exorcist was stern, giving no room for argument.

The smoke shifted to a side. Kagome nodded, "Very well." She closed her eyes and dropped her jaws, her form stiff. The thin line of smoke eased its way into her opened mouth and nostrils, entering her body until there was no more smoke at all.

Ash could be heard grumbling in disgust, followed by a slap to the head in courtesy of Shippou.

Elmer shivered, cold dread crawling up his spine as he watched the little girl fumble about as if she hadn't walked in a very long time. He pushed his legs to move him backward, to get away from her.

_"Elmerrrr...why did you,"_ Kagome/Sabella wheezed, her voice sounded mature and rough, _different_, _"move on so quickly...? Did you not mourn for me?"_ She looked very devastated, her milky eyes brimming with tears, _"Had you not love me at all?"_ She shambled nearer.

Ash made a sarcastic comment, "Oooohoho, what a heartbreaker!" He grunted.

"Oh for once in your life, can't you ever shut up for more than fifteen minutes?" Shippou growled, keeping his tone low to avoid disturbing his mistress at work, "You are sleeping outside for a week!"

The white-haired worker paled and said no more.

Elmer was sputtering, grasping for straws to spin a story with, "I-I was already in love with someone else!" He was already at the boundary of the white line and found he could not move farther, his back pressing against an invisible wall, "I didn't think you will _actually_ die!"

Several seconds ticked by, the milky eyes growing wide in realization, before narrowing in distrust, _"What?!"_ Sabella snarled, taking a foot forward, _"What are you implying?"_

"I am not liking where this is going," Alden worried, now directly outside of the circle, "From the sound of it, Mr. Shirley indeed had a hand in the lady spirit's death. This won't end well." Whether if he meant his granddaughter being possessed with the enraged spirit drawing on the girl's emotional state or the whitening Elmer being caught in a lie, no one was sure.

In a flash she appeared before the pale man, _"Tell me the truth!"_ Sabella spat out, hands snapping on the whimpering man's neck, _"Do not make me take you with me in death!"_ Even though she was possessing a child, there was a considerable strength in her hands to crush a grown man's throat.

Alden added in his input, "That might be a good idea, Elmer! There is no way for you to run from a spirit!" With a sigh, he shook his head in disappointment and said under his breath, "I do wish Sabella had kept her word and not use my baby's outside of communication..."

Shippou stepped forward when Elmer didn't seem to want to heed the old Baron's warning and snapped his fingers. He returned back in the line with the rest of the servants and exclaimed, "Let's hear what he had to say. It should be interesting."

The sweaty man blurted out, unable to stop himself from telling the truth that was hidden for three years, "I arranged for your death! I paid a man to spook his horse when he sees you coming." He whimpered, "I changed my mind and told him not to, figured I can find another way to break the marriage arrangement without your death, but-" Elmer wept for the inevitable truth, "he got my message late, and there you were, dead on the ground with your face-your face destroyed."

Sabella shrieked, the high-pitched voice having Kiku and Ash wincing again and plugging at their ears, _"_You_ worm! You _waste_ of disgusting human flesh! I had my life! And _YOU _took it away!"_ Elmer was flung aside, bruising his back, and Sabella lunged, roaring that terrible cry. She pushed out clawed hands in front of her, intending to aim for the man's neck.

The baron ran in and Alden interfered, grasping the body of his grandchild by her throat. His fingers carefully plunged themselves into her mouth to open it wide and shouted, "Exitus*, spirit! _Exitus_ from where you do _not _belong!" A giant wad of red fog was ejected from the slacked body through her mouth and nose. Alden gently lowered Kagome's body to the ground, before he promptly released her from his hold and fled from the circle.

Kagome was spitting out the rest of the red smoke from her mouth and nostrils, lines of it slowly wafting to the floating ball of fog. On all four, Kagome continued coughing, dribbles of saliva fell to the ground into small puddles. She was shaken from the possession that went wrong.

"Milady..." Shippou fidgeted, but stay put at where he was.

The girl still wheezed even if there was no more piece of the ghost inside her body, "Is this what you really want, Sabella?" She feebly got on her knees and mastered up just enough strength to look up to the ghost, "Is murder what you want? Is it worth it to suffer forever in the Hell over a pathetic man, Miss Sabella?"

The smoke recoiled, the color changing to pink, but span angrily.

Kagome stood up on her feet, wobbly, but was determined, "I know you loved him, madam, but he doesn't _love_ you. Is that really enough to go to Hell for that, for unrequited love? Why accompany him there, when you can be at peace instead?" The spirit argued back, smoke thinned out from disagreement, and the exorcist shook her head, "He will be going to _Hell_ for what he did. Isn't that enough?"

Both ignored Elmer's whimper at this knowledge.

The ghost was struck silent, the fog grew fat and was now white. Strands of smoke was entwining through Kagome's frazzled hair, as if Sabella was apologizing for what she did to the girl.

The smoke thinned out of existence, wordlessly.

"Have a safe journey to the afterlife." Kagome curtsied, as if saying farewell.

Elmer crawled forward, shakily, "La-lady?" He reached out for her skirt, wanting _something_.

Shippou hissed at the sight, waiting to tear at him. Ash scowled, glaring at the shaking man, while Kiku merely looked away, as if to contain herself. Theodore showed nothing, though his body tensed.

Kagome glared at the sputtering male, "Do _not_ touch me." She snapped, and the sputtering evolved into a long whimper, "You had wronged and you took a _life_. That is not something to be forgiven, not even by the eyes of those above and immortal." Feeling dirty and weary of being near Elmer she exited the circle, "I expect you to make your complete payment, soon, and _leave_ immediately and never to return. You are tainting the air the longer you are here."

There was no feeling in her voice, but disappointment, "Have a good trip home, Mr. Shirley." Without further ado, she turned and disappeared up the stairs. Alden was the first to follow, and after few moments of glaring and idling, all servants but Shippou were gone.

Elmer found the butler's silence disturbing.

* * *

Kagome pushed the heavy door open and was greeted by her cat, "Mahhhh!" The girl sighed at Kirara, who was, this whole time, waiting for her to come out of the dankly basement. Meanwhile, Kirara was all too happy to be held by the girl, her head tucked between Kagome's shoulder and neck with a feline smile and purred. The cat didn't even care that she was simply too big to be held properly, she was just happy to see the little mistress.

"You're one silly cat, Kirara." Kagome remarked, looking relieved.

"Indeed she is." Alden wholeheartedly agreed when he exited the basement, clapping on a cat-free shoulder, "Let's go to the office and fill out the record on this client, hm?"

His granddaughter tipped her still-frazzled head in an agreement. Alden noticed, chuckling good-naturedly, "Ah, we should brush your hair too."

Kagome groaned and placed a hand on her head in a futile attempt of smoothing it out, but said nothing. She was already walking to where the shared office was. Kirara's back feet were dragging among the floor but made no protest, purring all the way.

"Say..." Alden frowned, briskly following the younger exorcist, "what should we do about the truth of Sabella's death?"

Kagome's shoulders sagged, "What else? If she has a family, we inform them." She stopped before the door and waited.

"And if we have no evidence?" Alden added, turning the doorknob of the door.

"Shippou will find them." Kagome assured, while entering the small room. There were clutters -but neat kind of clutters- where there were stacked folders of paperwork sitting on every available surfaces (including chairs even!) but the middle of the sole dark-wooded desk. It was instead swarmed by grouped writing utensils scattered all over. There were bookcases similar to those from the basement, but already having large, noticeable gaps of missing books and files, and were stuffed with random knickknacks.

Some knickknacks were prized stuffed animals, large and small, and statues of painted dogs, cats, and birds. The rest were puzzle-like objects and items of sport.

Next to the desk, near to the sole window, was a tall hanger of an elegant-looking white cage. Two birds were cheerfully tweeting within, one pure white with tan beak and other black with red under plumages*. Kagome went to greet them, after dumping Kirara on the files-covered floor and carefully making her way around obstacles. "Trinity, Ingram! How are you two today? Did you have food and water?"

Alden laughed when he made his way to the chair behind the desk, "I'm certain that either Theodore or Shippou made sure that they were cared for. Please, seat yourself, love."

Kagome blew air, "I am aware, but I do like to greet my birds." She scanned around the stuffed office, "And where do you suggest I sit? You used every chair as a surface again." Kirara even looked a bit lost throughout the man-made maze, thrilling in distaste.

The old baron laughed, waving a hand, "You can just move them to the floor if you like."

She narrowed her eyes, but did as he advised, "How did the servants not thrown a fit about this? The whatnot were one thing," Kagome was referring to miscellaneous items scattered around the room, some were hers, "but paperwork? Undoubtedly they will complain about the fire hazard and that sorts."

Alden merely continued chuckling, offering no explanation to his state of madness with papers. Kagome huffed, dropping herself into a chair she had chosen once it was cleared. Alden pulled out a small stack of papers with a pen, "Here you are, love. We can discuss while you are filling out the record."

Kagome grudgingly accepted them, remarking causally, "I will have carpal tunnel by the time I am 20." She began her work.

"I do understand that you trust your butler very much so, but do you think it would be possible for the victim's family to not believe the evidence?" The baron was fishing out a list from a row of arranged folders in his desk storage, "Surely he cannot convince everyone of the truth."

Poking and engaging the squealing cat with the end of her boots, Kagome shrugged while she began the third paragraph of the formerly blank paper, "It happened before, and it will happen again. Just the same Shippou is brilliant at what he does." With a pause to organize her thought, she continued on, "I do not understand why you always question him when we had him for years and he showed time to time again on just how capable he is and more." Kagome looked disappointed at her grandfather as she resumed her writing.

He laughed, old eyes scanning through a long roll of the list, "You must pardon me, love, but he can be _too_ brilliant. Even when I know of his abilities, it is still shocking." Alden admitted. He spotted a line in the list, almost right at the end of the long line of names, tapping it with a pen, "Ah there he is." He crossed it out and added on the date next to it.

Kagome's dark eyes flickered to Alden, before returning to her work, the current paper was now standard checkboxes and lines with following questions to be filled out.

Alden shook his head, "Elmer had an appointment a month away." He scratched his head with the dull end of his pen, "Times like this made me wish we are able to have a protocol to know full details. Would be nice to move bad folks at the bottom of the list."

The girl agreed, "Too bad it's impossible given our-my," she corrected herself, eying her grandfather, "workload."

The old man grinned.

"Did you not remove Sabella from my body?" Kagome questioned, remembering the incident of where Alden forced the spirit from her, "I am not seeing you with even slightest bit of tiredness, Grandfather." She quipped.

Alden palmed his face, sniggering, crackling the list in his hand from the shaking of his body, "Just because I don't look tired, doesn't mean I wasn't, little love."

Kagome shrugged, "If you say so." She continued to complete her assigned work, "So, do you think Mr. Shirley will suffer consequences?"

"Oh, most certainly." Alden nodded firmly, restacking folders on his desk, "If not, then I have no doubt your dear butler was less than willing to let him get away scot-free."

"I am positive of it," the girl agreed, dropping her finished record on his desk, while shaking her hand as if it was hurting, "Here you are-that was terribly short, even for this case."

Alden read through it and nodded in an approval, "Everything looked accurate and fully detailed-you signed your name on it?"

"Of course. Don't forget to get the servants' too." Kagome pulled up the cat on her lap and tweaked her ears again for trying to eat her boots _again_, "May I be excused to my room? Today was an exhausting day, and I could use a nap." Kagome couldn't help but yawn.

The baron hummed, flipping through more folders and marking them, "Go ahead, have a nice nap, dear." He didn't even bother trying to get her back for all the jests she gave him.

Kagome was gone, Kirara in her arms. The little lady tipped her head to an idling Ash, a busy Kiku, and Theodore who somehow had fallen asleep on his feet without falling over. At this Kagome had to smother the need to giggle.

She continued on her way, the cat was now on the floor (Kagome couldn't handle the cat's weight for a long period of time-Kirara is rather _big_), following her up the stair in the entrance room. On the top floor she heard rapid footsteps and saw Elmer dashing to the door and into the outside world below. Kagome found amusement into hearing him making fearful squeaks and cries, while he was flimsily struggling with the doorknob.

Forgoing his hat and jacket on the rack, the guest slammed the door open and ran out, never to come back.

The girl wished she could have seen his expression also.

Kagome then saw her butler on the floor below. Shippou was briskly walking over to the rack in its corner and removed the abandoned hat and jacket, folding the thin coat over an arm and the hat in a hand. The butler stepped outside the manor. He turned his head to check the home inside and saw his mistress on the top of the stairs. The butler smiled and pressed a finger on his lips, gesturing his young witness to remain silent. Shippou then shut the door behind him.

She shook her head and pressed on forward.

Kagome felt like she was dragging her feet when she felt the heavy weight of tiredness by the time she arrived to her stuffed animal-ridden room.

"Mistress!"

"Little Lady!"

Two animated toy cats pounced on the end of her skirt, one was white and other was black. They looked up to her, concerned from the worn look on her expression, "Lilith, Damien, would you mind terribly if you two could pull the cover for me? I am in a sore need of a nap."

"I sure will." The black toy cat saluted, the blue jeweled eyes glittered in the light, and it bolted to a canopy bed to do the deed. Only the white cat stayed.

The white one, its voice soft feminine while its' black counterpart's voice was agreeably deep, helped Kagome with removing her boots, "Dear, are you alright? How did the meeting with the client go?" Dragging a tie to unknot it in the mouth while pushing against the shiny leather, the white one shifted backward. "Ack!" It choked, when a silk hind leg accidently stepped on one end of the green bow it had on its neck. The white one fell on its thin tail while the ribbon landed on the floor in a smooth swoop, untied, "Oh dear! How embarrassing." It cupped its' silk-lined face in embarrassment.

Kagome shook her head, pushing Kirara away from ruining on the fallen ribbon with teeth and claws, and went to fix it back on the white toy cat, "Honestly, it could have gone better, Lilith, but for now, I need to sleep."

The blue bow prodded from the neck flapped like wings when Damien bounced toward the girl, her cat, and its' white counterpart, "You will tell us?"

She dragged her headband off of her head and shook out her still-fizzed hair, "Of course. I always do." Kagome settled in her bed, pulling the cover over her legs, ignoring Kirara who invited herself onto the mattress, "Don't forget to wake me in an hour, you two." The girl tucked herself in and promptly fell asleep, her eyelids heavy and pulled down their weight.

"Always, dear." Lilith cooed, petting the black hair when Damien rested on the top of the pillow, watching over her like a guardian angel.

* * *

_**Earlier...**_

The butler's shaded murky green eyes sent shivers crawling up in Elmer's spine. Trying to ignore how the red headed male was eyeing him quite disturbingly, Elmer stood up with shaky legs. The young man stood there awkwardly-he was so used carrying the weight of the ghost on his back, and now finding out how strange it was to be freed of that burden.

"So…" He began, uncertain of the male standing in front of him. "The young lady…" It was clear that he wanted nothing more than to flee out of the basement. But, something was holding him back.

"Yes?" Shippou ushered, telltale signs of predatory instincts welling forth.

"She won't be opening her mouth about this particular happening, will she?" Elmer wriggled his fingers, not meeting the red-haired man's narrowed eyes.

Hackles rose from Shippou's tense body, his conscience not believing the audacity of this cowering male, "Are you implying that-" Shippou began with a guttural whisper, "my mistress is a tattle telling chit?"

Seeing the immediate change in character, Elmer sputtered his previous inquiry back. "N-N-NO! Th-that is not what I m-meant!" he shrieked, "I was just hoping that this little secret of ours would stay hidden in the dark. After all, you care nothing of my personal life!" Elmer breathed out a sigh of relief, thinking he calmed the obviously irate butler when he saw the slight relaxation on the man's shoulders.

"So now you are implying that my mistress is selfish?" Shippou knew he was not making any sense but he was enjoying torturing the quivering male.

"Wh-what!?"

Shippou snorted, blinking slowly before opening his lips to spill his words forth.

"Although my missus would _never_ gossip about your little dark scandal," Elmer shrunk back at the mention of his secret being a scandal, "do not be ecstatic for Miss Sabella's family would be informed of the truth." He purred, combing though his long hair that seemingly shined brighter in the dim room, "After all, my lady does _speak_ for the dead, when no one would."

Elmer's fear multiplied tenfold. If Sabella's family would find out the truth, that will be the end of him.

He would lose his job.

He would lose his family.

He would lose Charlotte.

And worst, he would be shamed and hanged*!

Elmer dropped down on his knees, now groveling over the exasperated butler, "Please! Please! D-don't tell th-them! I-I would d-do anything! J-Just please!" Shippou wrinkled his nose at the blatant lack of honor and pride the man was displaying.

He laughed, the voice making the weeping man's skin crawl at how dark it sounded, "There is nothing I can do, Mr. Shirley." The butler flipped his hair back, "As an Exorcist, it is milady's job to bring justice and truth to those wronged and dead, and to also give them their rest." Shippou continued on, smiling almost serenely, "Surely it's not a difficult concept for you to grasp?"

Elmer was struck silence for a long period of time.

Can't the little twit understand? The moment she opens that little mouth of hers, she would literally be destroying his life! Her selfishness would cause his perfect relationship with Charlotte to decay and destroyed! His happy dream of a white marriage and having a smiling family with two children with his beloved, ruined! He would be looking at the disgusted face of her and be shunned.

That thought physically hurt.

Shippou watched as red rage fell on his face, lips pulling back, showing blunt white teeth. The bridge of his nose were wrinkled together, black irises began to dilate. Elmer inhaled sharply, exhaled, and inhaled again, as if he was trying to calm himself down so to avoid making a terrible mistake. He lost the inner battle when he roared, "Your wench is a little bitch! A backstabber and a tyrant as the rumors say!"

The butler paled at the insults, his eyes sparking with anger, "What in the hell did you just call _my_ lady?!" He struggled to not assault the fool's person. Why couldn't Elmer just stay meek as he verily was earlier?

It would have made things so much easier.

Missing the word the butler so intently stressed, Elmer raged on, "Yes, you heard me, you daft bastard! The brat was indeed a demon child of a devil whore! Did the little brat wear black to disguise blood on her clothes?!" He didn't get a chance to say more, for he was slammed down against the hard floor with a tight vice grip on his throat. Elmer choked and his eyes brimmed with tears from the growing pain in the back of his head, and felt his hair dampening.

"It was an unwise idea for you to open your mouth from the beginning, Mr. Shirley, and even more unwise for you to be insulting my lady." Shippou hissed at him, straddling over the fallen man. He squeezed Elmer's neck for no certain reason but to cause pain.

He didn't want his death.

Not just yet.

Shippou found joy into hearing him choking and gagging. He found joy into seeing his face turning blue and eyes rolling back. The butler even found more joy feeling Elmer's feeble attempts to remove his hands from his person, nails scratching the butler's wrists, with Elmer trying to kick Shippou off.

The red headed butler was simply stronger than the fool, this was an inevitable fact.

He had to laugh, finding Elmer's struggles undeniably humorous.

Seeing that Elmer was just a minute away from death and feeling his attempts to live growing weaker, Shippou eased up the pressure, "Hmm...This isn't punishment enough. I have something much better in store for you, Mr. Shirley." He chuckled, watching Elmer desperately devour air to refill his lungs while coughing and shedding tears from the pain of being deprived of oxygen.

The butler still had his hands on the man's throat, warning the fool to cease doing anything he will regret...further, that is.

Elmer couldn't control his whimpering, but with all of his bravado, he dared enough to glare. This Shippou scoffed at, still chuckling, "Let the fun start, shall we?" He released him and stood back, pulling a finger back to taunt Elmer to pounce him.

The man gagged, pushing himself up from the ground. It was not an easy feat, and even Elmer had to take a moment to swallow another breath. But, just the same, he has pride and a white marriage to save, and he lunged after the butler with a fist pulled back.

Everything turned black and Shippou faded away. Not even his vivid hair stood proud against the darkness.

His fist missing the intended target and the gravity pulling him, Elmer landed face flat on the floor. He heard some cracking first. What followed was the sensation of having hundreds of sharp knives stabbing at his face. The man screamed and rolled over on his back, gripping his broken nose. He tasted the blood of the waterfall flowing from his nostrils, now flowing down to his ears due to his changed position, and the wetness on his hands.

"What in the hell?!" Elmer screamed at the blackness. He could not even see his own bloodstained hands. Wincing from the pain of a broken nose he blared out, "Where the hell are you you _spineless_ bastard?!" Anger overrode pain and Elmer fumbled everywhere to attack something, _anyone_, preferably that suited asshole.

"Ha ha ha, you are an amusing little man."

Elmer heard the butler's voice of which he screamed at, "Show yourself! This is nothing more than an illusion trick and you know it!"

Shippou, staying invisible, continued on, ignoring his weak insults, "Let's see just how _much_ you love your little darling Charlotte, hm?" He snapped his fingers.

The blackness morphed, changing colors, transformed into something _familiar_.

It was the very same scenery where Sabelle was killed by the horse wagon. The very path she died on. Elmer was appalled at this 'trickery', "What the hell is this?!"

Since when the inside was _outside_?! And why was the outside of his _hometown_, in a _wrong_ season?!

Everything was the same like he remembered it to be, same people walking on same path with same ol' routine. It even looked like it was very same day too given by the sight of the spring sky and blooming trees. Elmer felt cold at this sight. He felt dread crawling inside of his ribs and the dread felt a lot like crawling and feasting maggots.

Only one thing was different-there was no Sabella but instead, in her place there was Charlotte. Elmer was very sure she was at her father's home taking care of her infant brother on the day of Sabella's death, yet there she was, walking on the very path where Sabella walked to her unfortunate fate.

"Charlotte?" Elmer choked, fumbling between people who felt real to him and even reacted when he pushed his way towards the blond woman.

"Watch it bugger!" A man with a top hat spat, unhappy when he was shoved away. He was ignored.

Elmer screamed the name.

Charlotte blinked and turned to where her beloved was, "Elmer?" She was confused as of why he was screaming for her, "What happened to you? You looked like a mess!" She gasped at the red waterfall marring his face. While spilling her constant concerns, there was a runaway horse, blinded by fear and dragging an empty wagon at the rear, directly behind her. Somehow she was deaf to the horse's cries, or perhaps she was too concerned with her beloved one to pay attention.

He screamed her name again, this time stilling flocking people's busyness with surprise and shock. There was no scream, only gasps and weeping from the gathering watchers. The pavement was stained with red and jarred with broken wood splinters from the wagon. Elmer fell on his knees and wept, denying what he just witnessed. The picture will forever be imprinted in his mind.

"Charlotte..." Elmer reached for her lovely golden locks, muddled by her blood. He touched the silk and everything again went black, scattering away like petals floating in the wind. She was last one to be taken away in the darkness. "Charlotte?" Elmer whimpered as he watched her to slowly being eaten away by the darkness.

Charlotte was no more.

The still-invisible butler hummed, "Let's try another."

Elmer spat out, denying everything, "Nononono! NO!" He shrieked, grasping his head, feeling like he was going bonkers, "That bitch really is a witch!" The man assured himself, "It's all her fault! She made this _madness_!"

He lost air and landed on the floor once more. Elmer moaned, rolled over and was clenching his stomach. Through blurry eyes he saw glowing green eyes of an angry man, who then was no longer invisible.

Everything was still black Elmer realized, but him and the butler.

The eyes though were unnatural, _demonic_.

He wept, feeling the pool of wetness expanding on his trouser by his loin and the pain of his nose weakening, "Who-_what_ are you?!" He pushed himself backward, away from this strange man.

Elmer hopelessly watched as Shippou smiled, the edges of it dark. He bowed low, and announced himself,

_"In the light of life and even in the shadow of death I will always follow, for I am my lady's most _faithful_ butler."_

_-End of the First Chapter!_

* * *

**Stars of Helpful Information!**

***Funerailles** is by Franz Liszt. Check out his works sometime!

*The **music desk** is actually a part of the piano that holds up sheets.

*The **entrance hall** is basically the first room you'd see if you come in a fancy Victorian manor. The room is made very fancy to impress the guests and usually the stairs would be a focal point. There would be a hallstand for hats and umbrellas and a small table for calling cards and bench/chairs for seating. In short it will have everything in order to impress the guests and give them first comforts from weather outside. _(Source, victorianhomedollhouse dot com)_

***Drawing room** is a reception room basically (nothing to do with art, mind you!) to socialize with guests and such. The room would be very well furnished and elaborate (it even got pianos to entertain guests! Not as fancy as you would have as the _music room's_ piano though) and you can access it from the main hallway of the house.

The room would also be a room for ladies to socialize when the men socialize in (read: take over) the dining room table. Most houses apparently do have a separate Family/Drawing room, usually less decorative, only used just for family and close friends.

Speaking of which the room Kagome was in right in the beginning of the chapter was the Music room, and she was practicing on the grand piano. The piano in the drawing room wasn't, while pretty, as fancy as the one in the music room though. _(Source, victorianhomedollhouse dot com)_

***Vacuum/stream cleaners** likely don't exist back then in 1880s, but considering that Kuroshitsuji broke the Victorian era canon by already having working televisions, cell phones, and lawnmowers in the story, why not?

***Fallboard** is the cover for piano keys. It can be also called keylid, or simply cover. I chose fallboard because I want variety in words. Methinks I used too many covers as word already, haha!

***Ragdoll **asa pedigree breed didn't exist until 1960s and technically didn't exist in UK for couple of decades, but I'm taking an artistic creative license for this story. If it helps, you can say that it is a little known breed as a name, and not yet wildly popular in UK, at least in the Victorian era for the sake of this story.

All ragdoll's colors are gorgeous-one in particular, _flame_ pointed, is my favorite. In this story Kirara is a flame pointed ragdoll, meaning she was all off-white with pale orange markings on tail, paws, ears, and face. I found it to be perfect for Kirara imo, though it's also for an obvious reason, not just because I liked that coloring, but rather that Kirara was a _fire_ cat in canon.

I believed the breed as in whole were rather quirky compared to most cat breeds-they're chatty, will follow you everywhere, and just generally being a giant fluff ball of love-some may say they are more like dogs than cats.

***Exitus**is the Latin word for exit.

*That would be **Cobalt Canary**. They actually did have red feathers underneath the first layer of black. Interesting look, doesn't it? The color were called black-red. On other hand I couldn't find exact name for the white counterpart-they were mainly just known as white canary.

***Shaming and Hanging** was considered the main form of punishment for severe crimes in Victorian Era from 1735 to 1964 (yes, just mere 50 years ago!). They first paraded prisoners around the town with all intentions to shame them, and then they were escorted to the chosen center/gallows of the town and they hang them in front of the gathering crowd. It was considered public entertainment then. Even when the hanging was finished, the crowd would stick around for notices of each hanged person to be posted, to see what crime did they committed. Scary, isn't it? (_Source, alittlebitofdickens dot wordpress dot com)_

* * *

**FROM THE AUTHOR'S WRITING DESK:**

**QUESTION** to those well versed in Victorian Era: I am not exactly sure how are the wealthy residents are served their meals: do they wait at the table for the foods to turn up, or were they announced and find their plates already full?

**SECOND QUESTION**, If you are knowledgeable in Victorian Era, do you mind if I consult you often?

Whew! How LONG this chapter was! You can probably tell already how much researches I did for this chapter...of course I took some creative licenses. As in, why didn't Kagome just have a maid (referred as lady's maid) instead of a butler (who was obviously male)?! Creative license, of course! However I do admit there is a reason for that which will be revealed later in the story.

That's not to say Shippou _did_ everything that would be inappropriate for a male to perform to a lady, much less a little girl though (ie bathing and dressing-_those_ would obviously be Kiku's job).

FYI, Ash is **not** the same Ash from the Kuroshitsuji anime. I do wonder if you can tell who certain characters really are...*winks*

I must give credits where it is due, however. Small bits of certain scenes were written by my friend, _xx-BlackXRoseXLust-xx_! If it was not for her, I would not be able to post it at Christmas, if at all! Some parts were difficult to write, so Black Rose here helped me out and pitched in some pretty good suggestions also. Thank you, Black Rose~*a giant heart* **(Black Rose: Love you too Phantom~!)**

Well, let's see how much easier it is to write this story instead of _The Loveless_! There are lot of changed aspects (plots and characters) here, but there are still similarities. Hopefully you all do like this one.

**Please **review if you can and if you have any question, please feel free to ask~! And criticisms are greatly welcomed and appreciated. If this received well, I will do my best to get the second chapter out soon, hopefully by the first week of January!

Hope you lots have a great Christmas/Happy Holiday and have a great New Year! Stay warm and healthy!

PS. Also, you must pardon any errors you spot in my story. I will appreciate it if you can point them out for me? Black Rose and I are always looking for ways to improve our writings!

PPS. Hope you have many presents and/or warm love! You all deserves them! *hearts and hugs*

EDIT as of 12/28/13: Tweaked few typos found. Much thanks to _Ethorin_ and _The Monochrome Illusion_ for pointing them out! If any one of you found errors that needed fixing, please let me know so I can fix them! Thank you!

EDIT as of 1/4/13: Tweaked and added few things.


	2. The Exorcist, Assigned

**Chapter Two**: The Exorcist, Assigned

* * *

**Quick Note**: This chapter is unbeta'd, so it is extremely **raw**. Please pardon any typos, until I am able to find a willing beta-reader. It had been, however, proofread to the best of my ability. Thank you for your patience.

**Much thanks to**: _Yuzuki Kuchiki_, _Rumi-senpai_, and _xXCrossoverLoverXx _for the kind sympathy. Let's hope _xx-BlackXRoseXLust-xx_ will recover well!

* * *

The drawing room was bright today, Shippou plainly noted as he overheard the conversation between his little lady and a guest. He plastered on an inexpressive face when he poured tea and setting it down on the table. The guest nodded to him in a silent thank.

"Are you quite positive if it is essential for me to-" Kagome raised a brow at the unsealed paper unfolded in her hand. A broken waxed seal was being fiddled with in the other hand, the wax itself contained a symbol of an illustrious candle on its' holder. The paper crackled, "go?" She pressed her back against the chair, almost glaring at the man dressed in a black cassock. Instead, the light of the brilliant sun outside decided to blind the man through the partially-curtained window in her place.

The unnamed man nodded, crossing his hands into a fold on his lap and impressing his expression into patience despite the bright glow of the sun welcomed itself on his body, "You are assigned to this case. You have no say in this matter, Lady Luscius."

Kagome sighed with resignation, pushing the edge of the paper against her forehead, "I am well aware, Father Isaac, but," the paper wrinkled further, "it is not within my assigned territory-did something happened to Rabbi Enza?" Her tone was softened with concern.

Father Isaac shook his head, "It is not my place to say." He shifted to a side of his seat, his tea barely touched, "You are expected there within three days. When you are ready, please inform me and I will escort you and your butler to St. Albans and lead you to the affected party." The priest nodded his head in finality, "That is all I can for you at that point, as I am only a messenger. I have other worries to attend to, so if you may pardon me..." He quietly offered his apology for leaving so abruptly, more so when he was only there for a very short period of time.

Kagome dismissed him without a word, of which he was grateful for. Father Isaac knew it meant she accepted the assignment without farther arguments. The priest told the awaiting butler he would see himself out and bid them a silent farewell.

"Milady?" Shippou approached the young girl stiffly, "Surely it is nothing to worry about. It is possible that Rabbi Enza may have fallen ill, as per norm for his age?" He suggested, feeling his mouth drying.

Kagome's shoulders sagged, "Well I do not mind the assignment," even if it added to her high workload, "it was simply the fact that it was in his boundary. I feel obliged to at least greet him." She tossed the letter on the table, placed her elbows on it and placed her chin over her hands in thought, "I would feel disrespected if I found out any other exorcist came on my territory, even if they were ordered to."

He agreed, pouring the hot tea into her cup, "I supposed that is true." At least the girl was accepting of her role.

"Well, let's see if Father Isaac will permit us to visit him." Kagome thanked him for filling her drink, "It had been a bit of a while since they assigned me to a case, but never when there is someone already responsible-so this is the first." She blew air to cool her tea.

Shippou remembered, replacing back the pitcher and pulled the curtain closed, "Ah, right, you usually get a notice if there is a death, don't you?" His tone had some weight, as if he just realized a sad fact.

"Of exorcists? Yes. It is frightfully common," Kagome hummed, and then gave a heavy sigh, "though it is to be expected. That sort of responsibility is most definitely no child's play." Not seeing Shippou frowning at her almost-ironic statement, she sipped her tea and relaxed her position slightly, "I am thankful those who passed in past months, were nowhere close to my territory-imagine the workload!" Kagome shivered.

If one passed away in close proximity of her area, she'd have no choice but to expand her territory to accept that region, even if it was temporary. The reason of expanding was mainly due to the fact there wouldn't be a caretaker ready to take it over in several months to even few years. That is unless the deceased one was prepared and trained someone else to take his or her place. Even then that practice was rarely done due to lack of time to finding, much less training, their replacement and the said replacement having an ability to choose to back out from their 'chosen career' (which was understandable, but deemed undesirable and cruel to the already-overworked exorcists like her).

Just the same, caring for even bigger region was something she did not want at all, especially not in the immediate future. Bigger the area, bigger the workload, and she had more than enough to deal with her own. Her region was plenty big as it was, if the size of the famous city of London, not counting Greater London as a county, didn't say all.

Too bad there were limited numbers of exorcists as it was.

The butler agreed wholly, with a grimness on his lips, "You wouldn't be having any sleep at all, certainly."

Kagome chinked her cup down, and frowned, "I received nothing of the rabbi, so I hope he is just ill." She shook her head and looked up to Shippou, confused, "This doesn't make any sense! Did he not have students? Did he not assign anyone to take his place in cases such as illness and death?" Rabbi Enza was one of few exorcists who believed firmly to _make _time and being fair to his burdened associates and thus took in students to help lessening the workload.

"Perhaps they are ill too, missus. I am very certain Rabbi Enza is not the careless of sort." Shippou encouraged, lightened at the memory of the last encounter with the rabbi and his band of eager followers, "I remembered his younger lackeys and they are rather promising students."

"I recalled two of them were going to be graduated from him and take their own territory they were offered in the next spring," Kagome concurred, "One was going to take his place after he is to pass a test and all the others were going to stay for assistance and farther training." She stared at the brown liquid in the cup, as it remained lifeless and sparkly from the light, "They best be ill and nothing more!"

* * *

"Anderson Family recently moved in a house, which was, of course, infested." Father Isaac started, as they rode in a rather bumpy train*. His eyes lingered on the passing scenery outside, "They were not informed of the murders that occurred few decades ago and the off happenings within the home by the estate agent when they first moved in the early autumn." His tone remained cool, keeping the conversation all business-like.

Kagome frowned, eyes scanning through the papers in her gloved hands, not finding them all helpful, "What exactly the house was _infested_ with?"

Shippou retained stiffness in his shoulders, eying the man across from him. He felt her glance, but he said nothing.

Father Isaac took his time to answer the girl, "We...are not sure. All we know are that there is so much evil in the house that it is impossible to diagnosis between an intelligent spirit and a..." He twisted his face into that of disgust at the following word, "demon. This, of course, was all we know as of now."

"Ah," the girl nodded, a weary look etched itself on her face, "That _is_ a problem." She passed the articles to her patient butler for him to read, "Of course those _pests_," Kagome was referring to demons, "are increasingly common in my territory. By any chance do you think it may be expanding to Hertfordshire?" Hertfordshire was a county directly north of Greater London, her assigned region.

The priest's lips thinned, "Lady Lusicus, demons and devils alike are everywhere, since time itself was born, but if you are referring to the number of them growing within England," he ignored the insulted narrowing of the young exorcist's eyes, "then it is a worry, yes."

They didn't speak for the rest of the hour as the train took them closer to St. Albans.

The train pulled to a stop and a manager announced to greet the passengers a good day. They stepped off in the midst of a drawing crowd, "This way," the priest gestured to a certain direction, "the carriage should be waiting for us." He led them the way, their walk slow and graceful.

Kagome remembered a question she had been meaning to ask, "Father Isaac, I would like us to greet Rabbi Enza first." Her eyes lighted with almost-innocent curiosity while she waited for the man to answer.

The priest did not reply immediately. Perhaps the noise of the crowd drowned out her question, she reasoned.

"Father Isaac?" She repeated, displeased at the delayed answer.

He quickened his pace, forcing her to keep up with his long stride. Shippou was keeping his speed several feet behind Kagome, and neither she and the priest were able to see his darkening scowl at the religious man.

Few men and women greeted eagerly at the priest. He nodded to them in acknowledge but said nothing to them while he passed them by. Kagome was forced to apologize to the confused folks as she wove and squeezed her way through to keep up with Father Isaac. All the while she was grumbling about her short height and age and constant bumping into random passersby.

Kagome wasn't aware of the sorry state of her head, _again_, this Shippou saw.

"Milady," Shippou's voice made Kagome halted her chase and she turned, "we will catch up to him-the carriage will still be there after all, so there is no need to rush and dirty your dress in the process." It was then she saw his darkening glance at the retreating priest.

Kagome's lips dipped into a small frown, "What is the matter, Shippou?"

"The priest." That was all she needed to know.

She turned to look at the door where the man had disappeared through, "So him ignoring my request was intentional..." Kagome teethed her thumbnail in worry, "What exactly happened to Rabbi Enza?"

"We will find out, won't we?" Shippou smiled, forcing a cheerful, eager expression that almost impressed his young mistress and charmed young ladies that walked by. High pitched giggles punctuated the air. Mumbles of envy from men followed.

Kagome eyed him, baring no comments on his charisma, and agreed with his statement, "We will, but first, let's get this assignment out of the way." A step forward and she was interrupted.

"Not with your hair like that you won't." Shippou abashedly waved a hairbrush that appeared like magic from his jacket, "It is an absolute ghastly!"

She tugged on her long locks that were, once again, fizzed, "My hair is ridiculous!" Kagome dropped her arms and bowed her head, "Fine, but fix my hair somewhere more private than here." The train station was busy in this time of the day, where people arrived and people leave on an awaiting train.

Kagome pressed on, while adding her overly-sensitive hair on a list of things to complain about in her head.

They found a space more seclude inside the station from the hectic traffic of people (though they were still in public to save faces) and Kagome gingerly allowed Shippou to fix her hair, "Do you think it might do better in a braid?" She curled a strand of lock around her finger absentmindedly.

"How about the braid around bun? It would have match your dress splendidly!" Shippou hummed, pleased, as his fingers rolled over thick locks of black hair while the gold brush combed through to smooth out the bothersome fizzes. He found it an privilege to even touch her lovely hair.

Kagome wanted to shrug, but didn't as manners held her tight and proper, "As long as my hair does not act up again, I do not care. And besides, for the treatment I got from Father Isaac, I think he deserved to have a period of alone time, don't you think?" She ignored the gentle tugs on her head while she was amusing herself with her thoughts.

Shippou merely chuckled quietly, focused on waving her hair into a perfect piece of simple art.

During last few pulls and adding a final touch he felt his little mistress stiffing up and he looked at her curiously, "Missus?"

"We should go. Now." Kagome snapped. She was paling.

She dashed around a corner just as a disgustedly familiar voice called out, "Lady Kagomeee~"

Shippou followed without a second thought, the golden hairbrush vanishing within his jacket.

"Oh, come on! I am not _that_ terrible, am I?" The owner of the voice frowned, hurt by their obvious rejection. He tugged down his top hat, pouting. His dark violet vest gleamed from the sunlight as he crinkled it with his hand when he placed it over his heart.

A red-eyed female rolled her eyes at his pathetic display, but beared no comment as she idled behind the man.

* * *

Father Isaac didn't take too kindly to found himself alone in a carriage and waiting and wasting dear minutes while the exorcist and her butler took their time 'finding the their way', as they causally put it. He couldn't fuss at them however and settled for glaring at the butler.

He did not dare to make eye contact with the girl, and that was just fine with Kagome.

"Is there any...specific ways of how the infester haunt?" She reread the letter again, and still not finding any additional information. The paper was rather bare, containing the address, the names of household members and their relation to each other, that the assignment was an emergency and the region's exorcist was unavailable due to the reasons it didn't bother to reveal. At bottom marked a familiar seal of lighted candle on its holder. Underneath was pages of old articles of murders and death that occurred years ago.

However there were few different kinds of haunting that could have evolved from such a brutal massacre and suicides, leaving the young exorcist more questions than she needed.

The priest turned his head negatively, "All I know are what the bureau told me." Reluctantly he added, "Mr. Adam were supposed to meet with you after..." the name of Rabbi Enza was left suspended in the air in silence, "but he disappeared three days before the meeting. This is why I am here instead." Though Kagome never asked why he was their messenger instead of Mr. Adam as she had several different couriers herself, "Anymore I am forbidden to say-especially when I never contacted Anderson family, much less performed a survey of their current problems." Father Isaac sighed, looking apologetic.

Never say what you don't know.

"Well, that explained your behavior when I asked of Rabbi Enza," Kagome directed her glare on the paper, "but why would the bureau forbid you to inform me of what I needed to know? Not even permitting me to ask of Rabbi Enza."

The man stiffened, but he didn't answer. After a minute, he gave a helpless shake of his head.

Shippou kept his disapproval frown to himself, "That doesn't mean we can't find out for ourselves?"

Father Isaac sighed, "You both are still free to take whatever actions you think are necessary to protect the innocents. I am simply a messenger, thus I am restricted to do what I am supposed to do." He kept his eyes to the window.

Neither the lady and the butler answered to that.

"What's of Mr. Adam? I found it strange that he vanished." Kagome remembered the blond man who was stricter than even the priest and one of her own teachers, Mrs. Braeburn, but had a great work ethic and was respectful of her high-ranked position as an exorcist despite her age and gender, "More so when he was more devoted to his duty than any of us." One time he performed his duties while ill and another time he worked in grief of a loss of his mother to bone illness, claiming that nothing but performing his duties made him feel better. Mr. Adam was an odd fellow, but good at his heart.

"The bureau is looking into his disappearance as of now. Don't be surprised if you see familiar faces among working folks." Father Isaac added, his voice bare.

Kagome and Shippou glanced at each other, "Well, that explained the appearance of the Alchemist." Shippou remarked, noting Kagome's near-silent groan at the memory of the grinning man that showed up a while ago.

"He is certainly the last person I want to see." Kagome admitted, giving her butler a pained glimpse, "_He_ had absolutely _no_ sense of personal space!"

The priest snuffed out an incoming snort, pitying the oddball pair already, "Best of luck with ye on him. I did not realize he would be coming to the investigation too." He even sound like he sympathized for their plight.

Kagome smacked papers to her face and pinched her bowed elbow as she groaned again. Neither men said a thing of her unladylike behavior. "I supposed I might as well go ahead and wear a veil, don't I?" She grudgingly mumbled, her voice sharp.

"In hindsight, you should have done so earlier, given who I was." Father Isaac reminded, though there was no disapproval filtering in his tone, "Although, you had stronger self control than most, so I supposed I can pardon that."

The girl said nothing, as she pulled out a thin black fabric of lace from her cloak. It was over a foot long and the ends were studded with pearly white beads. In silence she tipped her head to her butler and held it to him in open hands.

Father Isaac watched the exchange and was surprised at how awed he was at their wordless communication, again. He forced himself to look away, when Shippou so gently placed the veil over the girl child's eyes and bonded it at the back of her neck, underneath her neat braid-enfolded bun.

He felt a tightening under his eyes and the thinning of his lips. The priest placed a twitchy hand on a silver cross studded on a rosary he wore as a bracelet, and mentally prayed for forgiveness for feeling something so negative. Toward who he didn't know nor understood why.

Is this pity? Envy?

* * *

The sizable house-or rather a mansion that resembled a small castle-came in view, and outside was decidedly beautiful, minus the decaying garden and dead trees that littered among the iron fence. The gate was left opened-ever so inviting-. Even the little lady was reluctant to enter, staring at it like it was a monstrosity. It looked so _lifeless_. The manor was a stark contest and that was what made it worse.

It took an noticeably length of time for the door to be opened, in the response of Father Isaac's hard knocking.

A young man, a servant perhaps, peered out and gave a sigh of relief, perhaps at the fact that they looked relatively normal, "Are you lots from the bureau?"

"Yes. I am Father Isaac and this is Lady Exorcist and her butler, Mr. Reynard." The priest smiled kindly.

The fellow gave a wordless nod and numbly showed them in the house and led them to his lord's office. Even the fellow had etched a combined look of fear and sleeplessness on his face.

"I had nowhere else to go. Mr. Anderson is my home." The fellow admitted, when the priest asked why he didn't flee like all the others, when it became obvious the house was voided of life.

Kagome felt ill at the atmosphere.

There was no response from the office after the fellow's announcement of their arrival. Despite that he opened the door, allowed the group to enter, and followed them in. Neither the priest or the lady said anything of the poor man's desire to stay. Nor had Shippou.

They were shock still at the sight of the lord.

Mr. Anderson was the sorriest-looking man Kagome had ever seen and this showed just how much of the problem they had. His office was in a total state of chaos and destruction.

Bottles of hard alcohol littered his desk and the floor were adored with broken shards of the bottles, destroyed books with pages torn out, and ripped pieces of what once were treasured paintings. The wallpaper was shredded, baring the naked pieces of the wood to all eyes. It exhibited bold scratches-though no one can tell if they were from fingernails or a knife.

The man was slumped over his desk, his face bruised and adored with red lines of injuries and had deep dark bags of sleepless under his tired eyes. His blond-grey hair was choppy, not groomed-everything of him was not groomed at all. He didn't seem to have bathe in weeks. His clothes were dirty, torn, and some parts even had a spot of blood on them.

Mr. Anderson was having a fitful sleep.

"...I should take my leave now." Father Isaac frowned, his voice quiet, "I did what I was needed to do. He seemed like he needed his sleep."

Kagome disagreed, "He was a god-fearing man, from the looks of it." She gestured to fallen bibles and broken crosses, few even had a statue of a suspended man on them, "I would think he would be appeased by your presence, Father Isaac." She kept herself low to avoid waking up the man.

The priest couldn't argue.

"From the looks of it, there is no way I can get a complete story from him, with doubts of his state of mind." Kagome tugged on her cloak, while she was approaching the lord's desk, "See how rigid his shoulders were?" She pressed against the desk, to have a closer look of the man's face. She noticed many muscles twitching within his expression and eyelids were constantly rolling over, as if Mr. Anderson was searching for something within the darkness of his mind, "Or how the little twitches kept jumping in his face?"

She turned her head to the fellow who stuck himself tightly in a corner of the office, "Does he have a gun with him?"

His head shook in negative, "No, madam. I...had to take it away from him, as it did little good."

"What of a knife? Anything dangerous?" She pressed on urgently, her tone hushed.

The fellow winced, "No, nothing outside of his hands, his mind, and glass bottles, no." He turned his head, showing a large discolored shape of a hand glowing from his neck.

Kagome's lips _almost_ lifted at the edges at his honesty, "Good. I should be _just_ fine." Shippou stepped forward, looking as if he was biting his tongue to keep in his words at her comment. The priest moved backward, saying nothing.

She reached over a stretched out finger, to brush at the lord's temper.

A sharp gasp exploded out from a mouth at the lightest of the touch. A blur of an arm snapped on the offending appendage in response. Kagome's lips quirked into a gleeful smirk in the spite of her finger being trapped and was threatened to be snapped in halves, "Glad to have you with us in the waking world, Mr. Anderson!"

When his name left the girl's mouth, the man screamed. He smacked away the offensive limb like a trash. The chair slammed against the dented wall and was thrown lopsided on the shard-swarmed ground. He slammed hands on face and he violently thrashed his head around, like he was in denial.

"No, no, _NO!"_ He shrieked, repeating the word as if it was a chant.

Kagome did nothing but to watch, baring no emotion to the rather-violent display. Father Isaac and Shippou did the same. The young fellow flinched and pointedly kept his eyes on the wall and the floor, finding them more interesting than Mr. Anderson's brutality to himself.

Within long minutes the poor lord wore himself out and fell to his knees, allowing the glass blades to cut open his skin and red steeping through his stained trousers. His screams turned into grief and then it faded into a silent weeping at last.

The little exorcist watched it all with a worn face.

She shook her head, "I cannot glean information from him when he's in this state. Father Isaac," Kagome didn't look at the priest, "take him to somewhere else, where he can feel safe, and clean him up...just something to make him more at ease."

He wordlessly tipped his head and moved to the grounded lord, "Come with me." He added on sweet words to allude the lord. Mr. Anderson was lax and was like a broken puppet when he mindlessly followed the priest.

"Mr. Anderson!" The fellow gapped and was about to make haste to follow his master. He was pulled back by the vivid-haired butler and saw him shaking his head.

"Meanwhile, let's see what you have to say," Kagome hummed, looking at him through her veiled eyes, "so please, tell us all that you know and saw."

He gulped, and gave a shaky sigh. "I can't. I...I was hiding after...well, you know...I do remember _some_ things," he dropped his tone as if to give hints neither understood, but they said nothing, "but I don't think you will find them too useful." The fellow was apologetic.

"I don't suppose he kept a diary then? Or the likes?" Shippou pinged a curiosity. He shifted and went to search for it, "Pardon me."

The fellow perked up, "That he does! It must be here somewhere...but oh, he could have destroyed that..." Disappointment fell like a veil, as torn papers scattered about in the room left a very telling story of what happened to them, "Master went on a rampage..."

"I found it." The butler effectively ended the fellow's distressed rambling, when he removed himself from behind the desk. Shippou held up the book.

"That was fast." The young nameless male commented offhandedly.

Kagome agreed, slipping through a touch of pride in her voice, "That he is."

Shippou held up a small leather-covered book in one hand, with a hint of pride in his eyes, "He won't mind if we invade his privacy?"

The fellow shook his head, melancholy welcomed itself to familiarity to his physic, "I doubt he will care, given the events that happened in here..."

The butler nodded and skimmed through the book, "It is not very lucid," he showed them the sloppy handwriting in different comical sizes, few had smudged rough sketches of senseless pictures, edges of pages were wrinkled with the smell of alcohol dosed on them, "but I will make a sense of it." He promised.

"Just do your best." His lady encouraged; she was quiet and patient.

The vivid-haired man nodded and thumbed through pages to a wanted date. He began narrating.

* * *

_"It was the second day of September 1887, when the leaves first turned orange. My dear wife was excited for the Hayward Manor..."_

She was squealing with laughter, "Isn't this marvelous?!" The lady spun her young son of five years old around, both were trembling with excitement, "This is beautiful! So much better than our first home! It even had more rooms for more children!" Neither cared for amused witnesses that lined against the wall, all garbed in black and white. Few maids stifled their giggles.

"Margaret! You shouldn't exert yourself!" Lord Anderson fretted, removing the giggling boy from her arms, "You are carrying our child, love!"

"Oh, pfft," Margaret patted her noticeable round belly, "Why? Your daughter is from you after all, so I am sure she can handle a little rough play." She cooed to her gabbling son, "Isn't that right, little Robin?"

"Mama! New house!" He babbled in a mix of nonsensical gibberishes and lucid words afterward while randomly pointing to things in the entrance room, drawing out more laughter from his mother.

Lord Anderson moaned at his wife's antics, "Good grief, you are the reason my hair is turning grey, love." He dramatically displayed his suffering by tugging on a thin strand of his combed-back hair. He received a big grin in return.

"You did choose _me_, dear!" The lady pecked a kiss on her husband's cheek, "Don't blame your hair on me either! It was from your work and you know it!" Her tone was still light despite the chiding words.

Robin giggled, "Mama and Papa is funny!"

He bobbed his head to his son, mournfully, "And I am reconsidering my decision of our marriage." Margaret gave a mock gasp and smacked him lightly on his chest, before giving into a fit of giggling. Robin laughed with his mother once his father return him to her arms.

Lord Anderson smiled, watching his wife danced with his beautiful son in front of a great bare window. They both looked like an angel with the bright sunlight as their haloes.

It was then Robin squalled with fear.

Everything went to hell.

It began with a whiplash of a head and with an invisible force, the boy fell from his mother's arms and onto the ground hard. Robin was knocked unconscious. All witnesses were screaming or were shocked speechless.

Margaret fretted loudly over her son, while her husband snapped on his servants on what just happened.

_Click-kalk._ "What is the hell is that?" An aged butler exclaimed out. There was a series of the very same sound, like an echo.

A maid gasped, "That sounded like locks!"

A healthy man bolted to the door of the entrance and jiggled the knob, "What the-?! It's bolted!" He pointed a shoulder to it and attempted to slam it open. It wouldn't budged. "Hell!"

Mr. Anderson, already kneeling before his son's fallen body and was cold and sweaty, gave a command, "Just kick it open!" He bowed his head down to Robin's pale face and patting his cheeks, "Come on, me' boy! Please wake up!"

The man hollered for help when the door refused to give in to his strength though it was bearing marks from the boot's soles.

Even with another man the door refused to open for them.

The maids scattered, jiggling all doors and trying to pull up windows.

They shrieked when they were too refused to open. One woman picked up a prized vase, "My apologizes, Lord Anderson!" She shouldered it as she carried toward a window. The maid readied a position, and flung it to smash the glass.

The window didn't give, while the porcelain scattered. Shards of broken ceramic fell and flew.

There was no sound, but of ripping skins.

The maid was mutely choking, her body was twitching with infrared burns of pain. She turned.

Gasps and whimpers followed.

Where an eye was a void full of streaming red rivers, painting her fine clothes the same color, with a large splinter jugging out from it. Another welcomed itself through her neck, both stained ends visible.

She took few steps ahead, and then she plunged to the red-spotted carpet. The impact shoved the piece fully to the back of her neck. The one in her eye vanished within the skull, with wet crunches.

The poor maid was dead.

There was a long pause, all were stuck in disbelief, before it ended with screeching.

* * *

"There were casualties?! Bloody hell!" Kagome groaned, wrapping her hands on behind her neck and dropped her knees just above the floor. She tucked her head in between them and moaned, "This one will be troublesome indeed..." She stared at pieces of broken glass on the hardwood ground, and imagined them covered in blood.

A picture slammed her consciousness and the girl remembered.

She saw a woman in behind a window. One eye ruined and in its place was a shard and she bored the glass splinter like a collar. The maid was slamming her fists on the window, screaming.

Kagome couldn't hear a single thing from her.

_She wasn't an hallucination._

Shippou frowned in disapproval, "Please pardon the interruption, sir..." the question of his name was left in a silent pause.

"Don't worry about it-I don't want to think of my name at this point." The fellow shivered, but gave the pair a curious look, "I could have swore you both already knew of the..." He swallowed thickly, "deaths that were involved."

"There was trouble with receiving full messages." The butler was apologetic, but the fellow accepted the explanation, "But, please, don't mind milady too much."

Kagome produced a weak moan in response.

"Now then..." Shippou resumed.

* * *

_"No one can get out. We were desperate."_

A woman, a long time friend of the dead maid, screamed and wept, as she was shaking the body in denial, in hope of that it was a joke.

Few couldn't remove themselves from the sight, horrified. An elderly woman blanked out, felling in a heap. Two men clustered around her in alarm, shouting over each other to get her to awaken from her self-induced coma.

The father was trying to wake the unconscious child, while trying to calming down the panicking mother. The rest were trying to find a way out, without getting themselves killed.

"Robin! Robin!" Margaret wailed, hysterically patting her child in desperate hopes of waking him. She curled her fists around the collar of his shirt and shook Robin lightly, or lightly as possible with her increasingly chaotic state of mind, "Robin, wake up, you damn boy! _Please!_"

Mr. Anderson had his wife's hands in his grips, remembering the growing child in her womb, "Breathe, woman! Think of our daughter!" That stilled her panic-hot guilt fled throughout her graceful features-and she pulled back her hands to placed them on her rounded belly. Margaret whimpered, but remained as she was, in her seated spot next to her slumbering boy. She held her belly, afraid, as her eyes examined Robin's face.

"Frederick..." The lady welcomed herself in her husband's crook of his neck, "What is happening in this place?"

The lord drew in a stuttering sigh, bearing no answer to his wife's question, "I swear, when I see that greasy old bastard, I will strangle the life out of him for selling us this hellhole!" He tightened his hold on the poor woman, daring not to even a peek at the dead body just a bare few feet away from him. He refused his wife to look at the poor thing, not that it took much effort as their son was her first priority, and was verily grateful that Robin was unconscious.

There was a red mark growing on the boy's temple. A bruise. Keeping his wife's eyes blind with the skin of his neck, Mr. Anderson brushed a knuckle on it. Robin seemed to flinch at the touch on the sensitive skin through his unconscious state. _Where could that have come from?_ He asked hollowly.

Mr. Anderson overheard his old butler hollering at his men, "Find a bible! Any bloody bible!"

Although the old coot was overly religious, something he didn't much like about, especially on Sundays when he had more than enough praying...hearing him to say the word _Bible_ was surprisingly relieving. But at the same time, the word brought forth a deep sense of dread, where it hummed misfortune in the lord's mind.

"I don't care! It will protect us!" The old servant man screamed at the underlings, when few protested.

Women and men pulled down dressers, in a desperate search for a holy book. Deafening noises making the poor lady flinching, as they thundered throughout the cursed manor.

The lord never felt so useless-but his wife and his children...he never want to leave their sides, especially when there may be death awaiting for them all. Mr. Anderson rubbed a small circle on his lady's back, while he pulled in his son in the crook of his arm. He squeezed all together tightly, waiting for their last minute alive.

Margaret kept her head in between her husband's neck and shoulders, a hand gripping a much tinier one firmly. Both hands were then embraced by much larger one.

A fine rug, a Persian woven rug that was passed down from an previous owner, _rose_. It rose, in front of the lord's eyes, in a recognizable shape of a naked human as the fabric somehow defied the law of reality and _stretched_ like rubber and molded into a human body. It stayed where it grew from, stiff.

"A hallucination? The last moment of my death?" Mr. Anderson wondered out loud. His lady moved to question his sight, but he kept his hand on her head firmly. He refused to let her see.

Servants screamed. The lord heard the sounds of desperation-jiggling the doorknobs, the kicking of the doors, and screaming for help outside-that clashed like thunders.

It triggered the living carpet to crawl-it moved like a spider slowly making its moves after its' naive prey-toward Mr. Anderson, Margaret, and their son. The jaws of where a human's would be, stretched impossibly wide, revealing rows of blade teeth.

"I rebuke you in the name of Jesus Christ!" The old man commanded, a book in hands, while he stood before his masters and mistress. Behind him were cowering women and men. The Thing turned to the old butler.

* * *

Kagome gave away a long wince at that, "That...didn't go too well, didn't it?" The fellow gave a sad shake of his head. Shippou gave her a peer for another interruption, but kept his tongue and continued.

* * *

_"That was the most frightening thing I had ever seen. _

_And the...Thing...just went after Old Man Pace."_

**...TO BE CONTINUED...**

* * *

**Stars Of Helpful Information!**

*Train to St. Albans (or rather to a stopping point to get the said place quicker) was apparently the fastest way to travel from City of London in the present day. However I am not sure if this applied to the past too. Just the same, call it yet another creative license.

* * *

**FROM THE AUTHOR'S WRITING DESK:**

Wow, this chapter really isn't my best, raw grammar errors aside. It couldn't be helped though given _xx-BlackXRoseXLust-xx_/Black Rose's situation. I pretty much lost most of the will to keep up with it, much less adding better contents to it. My readers' encouragement gave me a bit more fuel to keep going, but well, I ran out pretty quickly...

Originally it was going to be much longer, and the current chapter plot was intended to stay in one chapter only. It was just so I can keep the introduction arc short (originally three chapters max, not counting an interlude chapter following the first arc), and you can have your favorite characters showing up much quicker.

It seemed that the fate had planned it differently than I did. Boo. But, yea, the chapter was just intended to show some aspects of what Kagome does as an exorcist-how things are supposed to work, and so on-think of her like an agent.

Mehhh...I am still conflicted to end it here and just post it, or to keep my dear readers waiting longer so I can get myself out of a funk and find someone to properly kick my ass into gears. Maybe I'll go back to it and add the second part of the chapter to this one, or just redo it, but...I don't like making my readers rereading if they don't want to...

Conflicts, conflicts. Decisions, decisions...hmmm...Still, without someone else's input, I pretty much have to trust only myself and hope this will go well. And, I don't really have that much confidence in myself. I'm scared how this chapter will be received, tbh.

But, anyway, please do let me know what you all thinks of it. If you can only criticize on the plot and **not** the grammar, that would be super great. Thank you for reading! I will try and get one out (or just generally redo it all) before next month ends.

Take care!


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